- GitHub removed all Claude Opus models from its Copilot Pro tier effective April 20, 2026, restricting them to the higher-priced Pro+ plan.
- Claude Opus 4.7 remains available on Pro+, while Opus 4.5 and 4.6 are being phased out from Pro+ as well under a previously announced schedule.
- New signups for Copilot Pro, Pro+, and Student plans are indefinitely paused; Copilot Free remains open to new subscribers.
- Affected subscribers who cancel and contact GitHub support between April 20 and May 20, 2026, will not be charged for April usage.
What Happened
GitHub on April 20, 2026, announced that Claude Opus models are no longer available on the Copilot Pro plan, effective immediately. The company simultaneously paused new signups across its Pro, Pro+, and Student individual plans—leaving Copilot Free as the only tier open to new subscribers. The changes were published in GitHub’s official changelog and framed as part of an effort to “ensure service reliability and a sustainable Copilot experience for all users.”
GitHub also tightened usage limits across individual plans and introduced a separate phase-out of older Opus models from the Pro+ tier. The changelog noted that Opus 4.5 and 4.6 will also be removed from Pro+, stating this had been “previously announced.”
Why It Matters
GitHub Copilot is one of the most widely deployed AI coding assistants, embedded directly into VS Code and accessible via the Copilot CLI, with a user base spanning individual developers, students, and enterprise teams. Restricting Anthropic’s most capable Claude Opus models to a premium tier signals that demand for frontier-class AI at mid-market price points is straining the capacity of infrastructure backing these tools.
The move is consistent with a broader pattern across AI developer tooling. OpenAI has tiered its o-series reasoning models behind higher ChatGPT Plus and API tiers, and Anthropic itself reserves Claude Opus access for higher usage tiers. GitHub’s simultaneous pause on new plan signups—not just a model change—suggests active capacity management rather than a routine pricing adjustment.
Technical Details
Claude Opus 4.7 is now the only Opus model that remains, and exclusively on the Pro+ plan. Opus 4.5 and 4.6 are being removed from Pro+ entirely, though the changelog did not specify an effective date for those removals. The Pro plan has had all Opus model access revoked.
Pro+ is described as offering more than five times the usage limits of the standard Pro plan. As users on either plan approach their ceilings, VS Code and the Copilot CLI will display warning notifications. GitHub stated that usage progress tracking is “coming soon,” indicating the monitoring tooling is not yet fully deployed. “These changes are necessary to ensure we can serve existing customers with a predictable experience,” GitHub stated in the official announcement.
Who’s Affected
Copilot Pro subscribers who used Claude Opus for compute-intensive tasks—multi-file refactoring, extended-context code generation, and long-horizon reasoning chains—must either upgrade to Pro+ or accept smaller, less capable models that remain on the Pro tier. GitHub did not specify which non-Opus models remain available on Pro.
Students on GitHub’s subsidized Copilot plan are also affected: new student signups are suspended. The announcement made no reference to Copilot Business or Enterprise tiers, which appear unaffected by the restrictions. Existing Pro and Pro+ subscribers retain their access during the transition window.
What’s Next
GitHub has opened a 30-day cancellation window. Subscribers who contact GitHub support between April 20 and May 20, 2026, can cancel and receive a full refund for April usage. GitHub has not provided a timeline for reopening paused plan signups, and did not specify when Opus 4.5 and 4.6 will be removed from Pro+. Additional context is available via GitHub’s community post and blog linked from the changelog.
